Get more out of your training

Say the word 'training' and most people think about an expert teaching another person all they know - usually on the job or in a classroom. Nowadays the concept of 'training' has been enlarged to mean much more:

• Classroom teaching
• On the job or location
• Distance/Online courses
• Blended learning
• Informal learner research
• Watching training videos/DVDs
• CD-based materials
• Simulation training
• Performance support information via intranet
• Training manuals

The learning may be assessed against national standards or other industry standards, or it may be tailor-made for a single organisation.

Self-directed learning

Organisations are starting to acknowledge that learners can self-direct their training and achieve great benefit for themselves and the organisation.

"Most adults spend a considerable time acquiring information and learning new skills. The rapidity of change, the continuous creation of new knowledge, and an ever-widening access to information make such acquisitions necessary. Much of this learning takes place at the learner's initiative, even if available through formal settings," according to Roger Hiemstra in a web article Self Directed Learning (1994)

Learners, says Hiemstra, can be "empowered to take increasingly more responsibility" for their own learning, and the end result is that "some will even thrive in ways never thought possible".

The benefits

"Because people can carry out self-directed learning outside of training organisations or formal schools, many administrators are beginning to look toward such learning as a means for stretching scarce education dollars," says Hiemstra.

Hiemstra points out that there are significant trends in approaches to self-directed learning and that it is being:

1. Investigated as a way of "meeting some job-related training needs in industry"
2. Researched to "better understand the role of technology in self-directed learning"
3. Studied to find out how environmental factors affect the results of self-directed learning

Even in medical circles the benefits of self-directed learning has been tested and found an efficient way to pass on knowledge. Mark Sadoski reported that "Peng (1989) experimentally compared self-directed learning with a traditional curriculum approach in a three year study ... Over the three years, the self-directed learning groups performed equal to or higher than the students in the control groups."

Significance for business

Although these studies looked at adults in academic higher education, there is no reason why adults in manufacturing and small business environments should not benefit from self-directed training/learning. What it takes is for the organisation to recognise the wealth of learning material they already have on hand, and make that available for research and self-directed learning.

Too often the employee who thinks: "I wonder what would happen if ..." has no way of researching the merit of their idea in order to present it to people in the organisation who have the authority to make a decision. And if the employee does make a suggestion, the idea is often not taken up because the supervisor or middle manager does not have ownership of the idea.

Example 1

Let us imagine that an employee has this brilliant idea and uses the organisation's training resources to find out whether the ROI will be worthwhile. The employee can also learn how to make a presentation, directly or indirectly, to management. Two things have happened:

1. The idea is thoroughly researched and a sound business decision can be made
2. The employee has learned about business economics and ROI

Example 2

An operator wants to train up on a different machine. They feel they are stagnating on their current machine. There is no one available deliver the necessary training or relieve them from their current work, but they do have downtime once the run is going sweetly.

They access the organisation's operations information library and learn about the other machine and take an online test. On the basis of those results they are rostered onto the new machine for short runs of basic product. Product specs and supervisor reports are used to make a decision about their competence. Very little time is lost and a new operator is trained.

Identifying buried training material

Sometimes organisations have training material that could be used for self-directed learning, but it is so buried that people on the job cannot recognise it. Case studies, budgets from earlier years, former KPIs, client feedback and costings are all potential training material provided they can be brought together in a way that makes sense.

Simple overviews that show new learners how to cross-match material and make sense of it, may be all that is necessary to set someone's curiosity alight. The biggest benefit is that those who do take up self-directed learning will be identified as the employees who will work their way up to positions of further responsibility.

If you believe that you have potential research and training material that could benefit your employees, but do not know where to start, just contact Edutech KM by email for a free consultation.

Edutech KM Ltd

PO Box 25-241, Victoria Street, Christchurch;
phone: 64-3-337-0234
fax: 64-3-337-0235
info@edutechkm.com
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